Section 7A. The department shall conduct on-site visits to school districts at least once every 5 years for the purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of programs serving English learners and to validate evidence of educational outcomes. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, a review of individual student records of all English learners, a review of the programs and services provided to English learners and a review of the dropout rate of English learners formerly enrolled in the district within the prior 3 years.

In the event a review and evaluation undertaken under this section demonstrates that a district is failing to adequately improve educational outcomes for English learners, the commissioner may recommend to the board of education and any school within the district be declared underperforming under section 1J and 1K of chapter 69.